BEST LIBRARY Minneapolis 2005 - Wilson Library

Okay, there is one problem with Wilson Library, which is that you can only check out material there if you attend or work for the University of Minnesota. But, hey, anyone can browse or read or study at the state's finest library, and they even have a nicely furnished reading corner (added a few years back) that's perfect for rainy Saturday afternoons. If that sounds too casual for you, you can always find a quiet spot for diligent study, and Wilson's collection should give you the source material you need. Want to compare 10 or 40 different hardbound translations of Dante, and then spread out a dozen commentaries in front of you, and finish the day by trying your luck with the original Italian? Neither do we, but it can be done at Wilson. As with nearly any place heavily populated with folks under 22, Wilson isn't particularly stuffy, but there is a serious, old-world dignity about the place. Surrounded by so many pretty documents of human achievement and failure and genius and idiocy, bookish sentimentalists might even get a bit weepy. Just don't spill any of your tears on the Shakespeare folios.